(Trinidad Guardian) “Babe, run”, Dwane Saunders shouted to his common-law wife, Akeisha Balkissoon, as a gunman shot him several times as they tried to get home on Sunday evening. The panicked woman hid in a bar near her home in St Mary’s Village, South Oropouche, until she could no longer hear gunshots.
But the signs were ominous, and she returned to the scene mere metres away from the Oropouche Police Station, where she found Saunders dead. A police report said Saunders, 30, and Balkissoon, 28, were walking along Oropouche Road when a grey Nissan Teana pulled up alongside them around 6.40 pm.
A man wearing a mask and armed with a firearm approached them, firing several shots at Saunders.
Saunders suffered several gunshots to his body and died at the scene, and the car sped off.
District Medical Officer Dr Rajkumar examined the body and ordered it removed to the San Fernando General Hospital mortuary.
Sgt Deo and WPC Mohammed, of the Homicide Bureau of Investigations: Region Three and Crime Scene Investigators processed the scene. Investigators were yet to determine a motive for the murder.
Speaking outside her home on Monday, Balkissoon said she and Saunders had been together for ten years and ran A&D Delights at the old gas station in St Mary’s.
She said they planned to begin building their home this year. He hoped to make extra cash by starting a wall construction for a friend yesterday.
Balkissoon said they usually purchased market goods and sanitised the food cart on Sundays.
They were there around 3 pm, preparing for Monday’s sales. Knowing he wanted callaloo for some time, she cooked the dish with stewed pork, potato salad and rice.
However, he decided to leave the food until he reached home as he cut vegetables for the next day.
As they walked home, they stopped to talk to a group of friends and noticed a white wagon stop a short distance away.
Balkissoon found it strange that after parking there for five minutes, the driver asked if they were travelling.
They told him no and joked about it. She said even the driver laughed. But as they began walking off, another vehicle pulled up alongside them, and an occupant fired a shot.
A man walked up to them and said, “Yuh running. Doh run. We catch yuh now.” Saunders replied, “What is this for? What is this about?”
“They fired a shot at him on his arm. I was still there with him. I was holding his hand, and he pushed me away and told me to run. He said: ‘Babe run’. After that, I stood there, and they fired another shot at his throat. When they did, that is when I ran. I started running. I ran into a bar,” Balkissoon said.
She admitted that Saunders sold small amounts of weed, but he was never involved in any serious crimes. She said a few people envy their business. However, she did not know of anyone threatening him, attacking him previously or wanting him dead.
“Honestly, I wish that the same way that my husband died is the same way that they would die.”
She added: “I will go the distance to get justice for this because he did not deserve it. If he was in his bad thing and it happened, I might have said, ‘Well, OK, he looked for it’. But I know deep in my heart he was never in anything.